Page 48 of The Child of Rue Royale
“Why wouldn’t he?” Cassius asks, and I laugh.
“Well, you’ve hated it for the last century, so should you really be asking that question?”
“No decision on that matter needs to be made right now, okay?” Bastian says to Cassius, and his eyes dart over to Marlowe.
“Marlowe, right? It’s been a long time.” He reaches across the coffee table and extends his hand to her, and she takes it. “Aster, I met Marlowe under horrible circumstances.”
“Yes, I was just wondering about that.” I try to hide my annoyance, but Bastian’s mouth curling up tells me I’m not doing a good job.
“Long story short, she caught me feeding on her mother—”
“Step-mother,” Marlowe corrects, her face stern.
“Sorry, it’s been a while,” Bastian says. “But Marlowe was hiding in her closet while I fed on her step-mother.” He looks at me, his lip twitching, searching my face for a reaction. I don’t care about who he fed on anymore, so I nod, urging him to continue. “Franklin, Nicola, and Marlowe’s father were outside, and if Franklin knew I had been caught, he would have wanted Marlowe dead. So I told her if she could keep what she saw under wraps and swear to never tell a soul, then she could come to Nightwalkers and Cassius would give her anything she wanted.”
“Bastian,” I scold, thinking that was a terrible thing to tell a young woman.
“Franklin would have killed her!” he explains. “He would have. I remember him being concerned about her father telling others about us, and I wanted to spare her life. It was the only thing I could think of at the time.”
Marlowe sucks her cheeks in, obviously uncomfortable with where the conversation is going. I can see her father is a touchy subject but then Cassius wraps his arm around her steadying her and opens his mouth to change the subject.
“Well, you brought her to me, even though it took her eight years to get here,” Cassius says with a smirk. “Though a heads up would have been nice.”
“He didn’t tell you?” I ask.
“No. So here, Bastian is dead, and she comes to Nightwalkers, asking me to give her a job, saying Bastian told her I would help her eight years ago.”
“Oh, my god.” I look at Marlowe, who is nodding with a pained look on her face. Cassius takes Marlowe’s hand into his, placing a soft kiss on her palm. There’s no doubt she’s in love with Cassius and he loves her back, but something tells me this hasn’t been an easy road for her, and my chill softens. She’s a woman in love. Who am I to begrudge her that? And she helped Cassius put all of Aven’s furniture together. I promise then to treat her differently, to treat her better.
“We have so much to discuss, to plan. But we’ll leave for the night and be back tomorrow if that’s okay?” Cassius looks like he’s asking me, as if I’m in charge. So I nod, pretending that I am. And then I’m in his arms. Pulled into his cold embrace, the whispers of gratitude repeated like a song. Cassius’s soft side, unlocked.
The brothers embrace for almost a minute, with more emotion, and Marlowe looks at me, tears in her eyes and she mouths thank you, and it pierces me right in the heart, and I can’t help it. I say it back to her. Love has made me a softy.
I GO INTO CHANTAL’S ROOMto get Aven from his swing, expecting to see her lying on the bed, but after searching the house, I’m unable to find her. Once back in our room, I place Aven in the bassinet, and Bastian pulls it to the side of the bed so he can stare, his eyes blinking, taking in each breath of Aven’s. “Can we sleep with him?” he asks, and I smile, my entire body warming.
“I have to find Chantal. She’s not in her room.” My gaze scans out the window, and on the beach I see a small fire kindling among the sand. “There. That must be her. I’m going to go check on her.”
Bastian nods, a soft smile splitting his mouth. “Okay. But don’t be gone long, please.” His eyebrows pull together suddenly, worry taking residence there.
“I won’t. Promise,” I whisper and kiss his mouth softly before running out of the house and down the steps.
She’s cloaked in a blanket, her back facing me as I approach.
“We’re going to be in so much trouble.” She sighs, her eyes fixed on the fire.
“We’re going to figure this out,” I say, sitting next to her, but guilt takes a hold of me, because Chantal signed up for something that had nothing to do with her, and she’s usually the one lifting me up.
Her wet eyes meet mine. “I don’t want to ruin your happiness. I know you worked so hard for this, and you did something no one else could do. I think part of me thought you wouldn’t be able to do it. And that was stupid of me, because apparently you can do anything, and I need to just realize that and think about that before I commit to things.And today I thought okay, it’s okay. But then suddenly I’m sitting in a living room with vampires, and I’m thinking—what are we doing? We are going to die.”
Her words punch like a brick to the chest. What can I say to that? I have not one single regret for bringing Bastian back, yet she wishes it hadn’t worked.
“You told me…told me you were okay with it. That we were in this together.”
Her eyes dart to mine, anger consuming her lovely face. “Yeah, I know. But now you’ve brought him back, and where does that leave me? You have a family now. Where does that leave me?” Tears fill her eyes as she points to her chest.
The crackle of the fire assaults my ears, competing with the drum in my heart. She made me a promise that she would be by my side no matter what, but she’s also a woman. And women have every right to change their minds and to regret. I can’t fault her for that. I changed my mind too. I thought I didn’t want a child right now, but when I was unexpectedly pregnant, it was all I wanted in the world.
“That leaves you exactly where you are. My best friend, cousin, aunt to my son. You are everything to me.”
